A forest spirit called Musa once spoke to a man, a hunter looking
for food for his family. In the great forest full of trees, the
spirit singled out twelve types of tree and told the man that if he
crushed some of the bark of these twelve trees into powder and then
mixed the powder with water, he would have a paste to spread on
himself that would make him invisible to the animals of the forest.

People have always longed to be invisible - the hunter more than
most, and the journalist with camera no less than the killer with
arrow or gun.

In the forest full of trees the spirit singled out twelve types of
tree. For anyone accustomed to dealing with symbols the number
twelve in this context comes as no surprise. Twelve is a most potent
number in any culture. J.C. Cooper, in An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, says that the Duodecad is a complete cycle.

It represents cosmic order. "As three times four it is a both the
spiritual and the temporal order, the esoteric and the exoteric.
There are twelve signs of the zodiac and twelve months of the year,"
twelve hours of the day and night, twelve fruits of the cosmic tree,
twelve members of the council of the Dalai Lama, twelve disciples of
Christ, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve labors of Heracles, twelve
knights of the round table, twelve gates and foundations of the holy
city of the New Jerusalem, twelve in a modern jury-the list goes on
and on.

One tree alone would not confer invisibility; twelve types are
needed. By the time the hunter has sought out the twelve types of
tree he must know a lot about the forest. By the time he has
gathered the bark and ground it and made the paste he has become so
knowledgeable about nature and so in tune with its ways that he no
longer stands out as an alien in the forest. In a sense he has
become the forest.

Because this is a myth and because the language is symbolic, the
intent of the hunt is not only to kill an animal for food in the
literal sense, but to rid oneself of the one's alienation from the
nature. We want to become "invisible" in the sense of dropping the
personal identity that separates and prevents us from becoming part
of the whole.

Nice,
Thats what we need to get back to in this world now days. The understanding, respect and compation for our suroundings.